If ever you find yourself in the position of having to apologize to one customer -- or legions of them -- here's a word of advice. Figure out what you're apologizing for. If the one thing you say or do is not healing for the offense, it's almost worse than not apologizing at all.

Just a few years ago, customers weren't mobilized to share their brand love -- and brand hate -- with the masses. But now they are. So you need to monitor the blogosphere for disgruntled customers and make it right with them.

This post is motivated by an incredibly bad -- scratch that, and substitute legendarily bad -- customer experience I had in Chicago while attending the Marketing to Moms conference. Here was the "service" I got from my hotel:

1). Didn't have a room for me when I arrived in Chicago, despite my reservation.

2). Put me up at a neighboring hotel for the night but insisted I return for the remaining nights due to the terms of my reservation (gee, thanks, Hotels.com).

3). Did not, as promised, fetch my luggage the next day from the "spillover" hotel while I was attending all-day conference.

4). Stuff that didn't work: card key, hallway lights, Internet, TV remote control, hotel-provided umbrella (very, very necessary the last 2 days of my trip).

5). Unrefrigerated minibar (warm drinks and spoiled chocolate).

My experience was so bad that I wondered if a new reality TV show were being launched in Chicago where folks from unrelated industries got to pretend they worked in the hospitality industry for 72 hours.

How did the hotel "make up" their no-reservation gaffe? By giving me a penthouse suite and free passes for a full breakfast. Sounds generous. But clearly no one considered what mattered to me.

Does a scaredy cat like myself value sleeping alone in a large suite with full dining room (complete with mahogany dining room table) and two bathrooms? No! Just give me a tiny room. But, please, make sure my Internet works so I don't have to return emails from the lobby of the hotel at 11 p.m.

Does a conference attendee value free breakfast? No, we're up and at 'em at the crack of dawn, eating breakfast at the conference.

So you see, they tried to say they were sorry. But they overlooked me, the customer. And all they needed to do was ask: "how can we make this right?" Remember these six words. They are perhaps your most powerful defense against an unhappy customer.

Labels: Bad Customer Experience, customer service

Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below, even if -- no, especially if -- you don't agree with what I've written.

Let's face it. We live in an age when customer service is typically so dismal that when someone does something even remotely helpful, we're caught off guard. When someone does something truly helpful, we're speechless.

Such was my experience today when I received this email confirmation from an online merchant, about an hour after I placed an order for a birthday gift for my friend's daughter.

We just wanted you to know how grateful we are for your order and to let you know that since it was a birthday gift, we wrapped it at no charge and made sure it got into the mail today! Hope Ann-Marie enjoys it and that you will give us a chance to do business with you again!

Is your jaw on the floor, as mine was? This merchant took the time to notice three things:

1). I was a first-time customer

2). I was putting my faith in this company to delight someone on a special occasion

3). I hadn't paid the extra charge for gift wrap

They wisely decided it was worth their minimal time and effort to wrap the gift for me. Why? Because I am SURE to do business with them again. And I am sure to tell others (you, dear reader) about it.

Who is the company behind this awesome service, you ask?

A website called Plaid and Stripe that I discovered through a simple Google search. I emailed them back telling them how much I was awed by their service and again got a speedy reply, sent from the owner's iPhone no less:

Thank you VERY much. I am doing everything I can to get my online business up and running and I can use any help possible. I have great relationships with the customers in my shop in Providence and I am determined to exceed that online. Thanks so much.

Small business owners have the advantage (and burden) of doing so much themselves that they can offer this level of high-touch service. But large companies can, too.

How? By hiring can-do people. Creating a corporate atmosphere centered around helpfulness. And building relationships that are personal and customized (notice the merchant referenced my gift recipient by name?). Any size company can do this.

I still smile at the extra-mile service I got from Restoration Hardware a couple of years ago when a single clerk in Portland, Oregon made my son believe in magic by writing "From the North Pole" on every side of the UPS box that arrived from Santa.

Who are the companies that have wowed you with stand-apart service? Comment about them here. It's the very best way to thank them.

Labels: customer loyalty, customer service, personalization, Restoration Hardware

Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below, even if -- no, especially if -- you don't agree with what I've written.

Yesterday, I called the dermatologist to set-up an appointment for my 10-year old son to have his moles checked. My red-haired, blue-eyed California boy is a prime candidate for melanoma, especially since his grandfather and I have both survived one.

The receptionist kept offering me morning appointments that would require plucking him out of school. I persisted in my request for an afternoon appointment.

"Late afternoon appointments are reserved for patients coming in for laser and botox," she cooly replied.

"Excuse me?!" I asked incredulously.

She repeated the policy.

So the convenience of working folks in search of vanity treatments trumps those of freckle-faced fifth graders who don't want to miss spelling tests.

In this situation, I was a mom on the phone. Yet I'm always a marketer at heart. At my company, Maternal Instinct, we believe that how a company treats mothers -- and anticipates their needs -- is the single greatest determining factor in their success with this market. (We call it the "What's Your Blanket?" phenomenon.)

Dr. K's office either doesn't know, or doesn't care. They may be in the business of erasing lines from foreheads, but they sure put one on mine.

Labels: customer service, mom marketing

Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below, even if -- no, especially if -- you don't agree with what I've written.